Metropolitan Ambulance Service CEO Greg Sassella, award winners Adam Smith and Zumra Mehmet with Health Minister Daniel Andrews at the award ceremony.By Callan Date
TWO residents have been elevated to heroes in the eyes of the Metropolitan Ambulance Service.
Zumra Mehmet, 39, of Eumemmerring, and Adam Smith, of Doveton, were congratulated last week after each received a Community Hero Award at Parliament House in Melbourne.
A total of 17 awards were given out – with each winner displaying courage by helping others in a life-threatening emergency.
Ms Mehmet and Mr Smith were training at a Eumemmerring gym, when they went to the assistance of a 57-year-old man who had collapsed and was unconscious after a heart attack.
The pair called an ambulance and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the man. They then assisted MAS members with CPR.
Paramedic Amy May nominated Ms Mehmet and Mr Smith for their actions as they went to great efforts to provide assistance, despite not knowing the man.
Ms Mehmet said she was on an exercise bike when she noticed the man was lying on the floor.
“My mind couldn’t keep up with what my body was doing and I just did a really fast walk over,” she said.
“His tongue was out and his whole face was blue. I felt for any signs of life and then I just commenced CPR on him.
“After a while he started gasping for air and I thought thank God but we lost him again,” she said.
Ms Mehmet then called over Mr Smith to help her with the compressions. We worked on him for a very long time. They wheeled him away and they said it was amazing that he even made it to hospital.”
The man survived thanks to the efforts of the two.
Health Minister Daniel Andrews, announcing the awards, said the eighth annual Community Hero Awards celebrate those members of the public who have shown enormous compassion and determination to save a life.
“The winners of the Metropolitan Ambulance Service Community Hero Awards are real heroes and inspirations to all Victorians,” he said.
“This day has become a regular event and the reason why these awards have such a huge significance is that they remind us that when an emergency arises, ordinary people can rise to great heights in service of their neighbours, family or friends.”
Paramedics nominate people for the awards based on their personal decision but reasons can include the selflessness of the act, the bravery of the nominee, community involvement, the difference to the patient outcome and the level of involvement above the nominee’s skill level.
“The stories of our heroes here today really are incredible. For some, the people they helped were complete strangers while in other cases they were neighbours, husbands, parents or even grandparents,” Mr Andrews said.
